I also think swept away just put the worry in them so they would stay there and not venture off
I also think swept away just put the worry in them so they would stay there and not venture off
We have stayed at many different resorts in Negril and have never been told that it was dangerous to leave the resort. We have never heard of any other person being advised not to leave the resort. Taxi drivers have an arrangement with most resorts, in particular with the larger resorts, that allow them to park on or near the resort and pick up and drop off guests on the property. The initial fee seems to be about $3000US at the larger resorts plus a monthly fee.One can understand the higher taxi fares. But the tourist is getting a reputable taxi and driver. Many resort tour desks are operated as a concession with either a similar initial fee or an initial fee and a percentage. Of course, some resorts may operate their own tour desk. The resort makes money with this arrangement, but aside from this the resort offers a known quantity to their guests plus the convenience that the guests have in arranging the tour on the resort property. An employee of the resort may imply that a guest should be afraid to leave the resort, but I don't think that any supervisor or manager would ever do that. Jamaican resorts have very little to fear in regard to lawsuits. I don't think that a resort has any responsibility at all when a guest leaves the resort on his own. If the person leaves on a tour booked at the resort, then they might have a case if something happened. In fact, no tourist is going to have much success in the Jamaican court system. Very few tourists would want to make the return trips to the island even if they wanted to go to the trouble of engaging a local lawyer and the suits can drag on for years and years. I have followed some rather serious lawsuits that were filed in the US against Jamaican resorts and their agents. One involved a woman that was partially paralyzed. None of the suits were successful. They were thrown out on procedural and jurisdictional grounds. Many resorts have a tangle of various entities and layers of ownership. Jamaican resorts have very little to fear as far a being sued.
Roundiconer,
On the contrary, the large AIs do have a fear of being sued. The large AIs have very expensive liability insurance premiums every year to protect their business from these possible lawsuits. That being said, losing is another thing. They have very little if any risk of losing unless the issue happened on their property or one of their official organized tours. That is why they have to charge more for their tours. Their insurance rates are higher for that coverage. As I stated in my previous post, if someone leaves the property, then they have little chance of winning, but that does not prevent their lawyers for suing the AI because of their "deep pockets". These lawsuits cost the AIs money and reputation, so they do want to limit their exposure. it is simple common sense business.
There are signs at several AIs right on the edge of their property that states to the effect that "if you pass this sign, you are no longer on ##### property. Do so at your own risk." If you walk the beach, you will see them...
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1st let me say no disrespect meant Rob but this sounds like the hearsay type stories that you often warn us about.
Originally Posted by Rob
Hearsay, innuendo and "lawyer speak". When someone jumps onto a discussion board and their first three posts sound like a lawyer well, a lawsuit can't be too far behind.
When you watch TV and see ambulance chasers after ambulance chasers you get a likkle paranoid I guess!
Just a joke. (but how I see it)
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I dont own a large AI, but that doesnt mean I havent learned how they operate over the years. I know and have talked with virtually all the AI managers or owners in Negril at one time or another in the past 20+ years of living here. Some have been on the board of directors of Negril.com in the past, and some I see on nearly a daily basis. I do have a somewhat intimate knowledge of how they conduct business.
This topic does often come up in our conversations. This is how I know this information. It is common knowledge to those in the AI business. Heck, even roundiconer mentioned that they were following several lawsuits, so lawsuits can and do occur even if they very little chance of winning should the incident occur off the property or not on an authourized tour.
But the AIs still have to absorb the costs of getting the lawsuit dismissed by using that portion of their liability insurance coverage that covers lawyer and court fees. That is why they dont want to be sued for an incident that happened off their property, it will raise their rates for something they didnt cause. If the incident happens on the property or an authourized tour, that is when the liability insurance directly kicks in and the injured party is compensated. The AI will see a rate increase for that as well because it happened on the property and should/could have been prevented.
Liability insurance is one of the annual expenses that the large AIs must pay to stay in business. The Jamaica Tourist Board requires they carry it just as they do for all licensed and legal hotels, resorts, rentals and tours operators, etc. But the AIs carry much higher coverage limits than the average tourism related business as they have much more exposure being much larger properties (deep pockets). Without this liability coverage, they would not be allowed to conduct business nor would any of the other businesses mentioned. Once again, this common knowledge to those in the business.
The question posted earlier is a great one. Since the guests have already paid in advance for food and drinks, logic does dictate that each meal and drink that their guests would buy off property would save the AI money. Business being business, why would an AI encourage their guests to not buy drinks and meals off the property when it would be in their interest to do so as was asked earlier?
The reason would have to be cost effective enough to offset any savings from the guests buying meals and drinks off the property. And the main reason is the legal liability issues and the high cost of the insurance coverage associated with it. By overseeing all aspects of their guests stay, they minimize the chance of being sued for something they didnt do which would lead to higher insurance rates.
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
"There are signs at several AIs right on the edge of their property that states to the effect that "if you pass this sign, you are no longer on ##### property. Do so at your own risk." If you walk the beach, you will see them..."
Grand Pineapple has one ~
"Yeah, I'm cocky and I am arrogant. But that doesn't mean I'm not a nice person."
—Jeremy Roenick
A properly licensed tour operator from within the resort or from outside the resort should have appropriate insurance at about the same cost to the operator for that specific activity. If you use someone's cousin to take you on a tour, you get what you pay for-I have in fact sometimes gotten much more than I might have paid for otherwise. I personally would not expect to collect very easily from any tour operator in Jamaica for a mishap. If the operator is licensed by the Jamaican Tourist Board you might have some recourse in case of a grievance. The signs where they do exist remind me of the various signs that state "Not Responsible for Checked Coats" or the ones that state "You Ride this Roller Coaster at Your Own Risk". These signs are meaningless in the case of owner negligence. There have been some murders recently in Westmoreland. Let us hope that none of us get caught in the crossfire. Usually these things happen away from tourists. It was sometime ago that an American was caught in the crossfire and killed in Sav.
The large AIs do not want you to leave th resort because they want you to shop for souvenirs in their shops and not go elsewhere. They want to sell you their overpriced rum instead of going to the local supermarket where you will pay 40% to 50% less.
Last edited by halfwaytree; 07-18-2015 at 06:23 AM.
We have sat in at the so called orientations at swept away and they put the fear of G-d in you. I am not know king swept away cause we love the place but I always have assumed if they do it so do the other a/I s
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